Chapter 219: Lucien’s Research Group
"Am I gonna just leave those little druids alone to let them destroy our research?! Am I that stupid in your eyes, Douglas?!" Lord of Storm yelled at President Douglas furiously. Meanwhile, all the archmages present slightly leaned backwards in their chair, trying to stay away from Lord of Storm’s howling.
Douglas, however, remained rather calm. Obviously, he was very used to it, and he comforted Lord of Storm, smiling, "Fernando, your major task when working with Hathaway and Vicente is to cooperate with Malfurion to reveal and understand the secrets of the power of nature. And I’m sure that everyone here is willing to assist you."
The names of many ancient sorcerers who established the Congress of Magic with Douglas had gradually faded away due to the development of arcana, and right now only five of them were still here. The rest of the six grand arcanists were more or less juniors in Douglas’s eyes, and two of them could even be regarded as his students.
Brook, a middle-aged gentleman wearing a wig and a pair of gold-rimmed spectacles, Oliver Constantine, an elegant middle-aged man with black hair and eyes, and Hellen Price, a beautiful, elf-looking lady, all nodded slightly. No matter how they competed with each other most of the time and whether they could get along well together, right now, they were all willing to offer their help, as they knew how important this project was.
If they could reveal the secret of nature magic, they would be one step closer to cracking the secret of divine power. Once all the sorcerers could cast divine spells, most pastors, cardinals and knights would not be able to believe in their faith anymore. They would either be devoured by holy light, or lose all their power.
Nothing was more important than this to the Congress of Magic!
"Besides, Fernando, you think those druids from Nature Rebellion are the only ones who wants to interrupt our project? You think they would not report this to the Church secretly? Soon, you’ll be facing the great pressure from both Nature Rebellion and the Church, but I want you all to stay focused on the project, and this is why I want to eliminate this hidden danger for you right now in advance."
It was obvious now that the true intention of the president asking them to come here was to discuss how to prevent the Church from ruining their project. The topic about the druids from Nature Rebellion was just today’s appetizer.
"I see... President Douglas, I am to blame. Although Philibell has been quite restrained, there are always things that are out of his control." After understanding Douglas’ plan, Fernando admitted his fault straightforward.
Across the round table sat a middle-aged, pale man wearing black cloak. He looked so skinny that it seemed that there was only a layer of skin covering his skeleton. In the man’s eyes, two clusters of dark-red flame were flickering.
He said in a low voice, "You never put much thought into things other than arcana and magic, Old Psychopath. I think we should secretly marginalize those incooperative druids by assigning them to famous arcanists who are actually not gonna be really involved in the project."
Being called his monicker, Old Psychopath, Fernando did not really mind, "That’s why you never dare discuss mathematic and arcana problems with me, Vicente..."
"How famous do you think the arcanists should be, Mr. Vicente?" asked another legendary archmage, Klaus, who tried not to let the situation embarrass Vicente.
After taking a glance at Hathaway, who was sitting there silently like a statue, Vicente answered, "The recent winner of Immortal Throne award and the youngest winner of Holm Crown prize should be enough. Felipe’s busy with his recent experiments, so he would not be really involved. As for Lucien Evans from the Will of Elements, he’s not yet capable of analyzing divine spells. Mrs. Florencia introduced him to the project only hoping that he could learn something from it. However, their reputation should be persuasive enough for those druids."
"Sounds good. How do you feel, my teacher?" Brook, the very influential arcanist who put forward his own understanding of the form of spiritual power against Douglas, was, surprisingly, Douglas’ student.
However, they seemed to be quite cold to each other. Some rumours about them seemed to be true.
Before Douglas nodded, Hathaway suddenly said to all of them, as her silvery-gray eyes looked around at all the sorcerers present, "Each of the two leads one group, in order to separate the druids who are not cooperative."
Douglas agreed, "That’s even better. If everyone here agrees on this plan, we shall now move on to the next topic—how to prevent the Church from destroying our project."
...
Douglas, in Lucien’s villa.
"Wow... It’s only been several days, and our green hand teacher, Lucien Evans, has become the winner of Holm Crown prize... the youngest one!" Rock walked and jumped around Lucien excitedly, "How do you feel right now?! You’re definitely the fastest one in history to become level four in arcana!"
Lucien was amused by Rock, feeling that he could become a good journalist, "I’m still the same, and the only change is that people now see me differently. If I take your project to the board now, maybe it can be approved."
Rock sighed emotionally, "Reputation and status... Wow... Lucien, if you want to develop any research proposals, I can share some of my ideas with you! Or I can be your helper!"
Jerome and Vilnia just ignored Rock’s words but continued to stare at Lucien and his ring in an unbelievable way.
After quite a while, Vilnia said, "Now I feel that I have something to show off, as I’ve worked with the winner of Holm Crown prize for so long, but, at the same time, your story and the changes you’ve made are just miraculous."
She paused for a second, and then grinned, "It is the trend in Holm that a gentleman shall propose to a lady with a ring. You and your Holm Crown ring is definitely a combination that no ladies could say no to you."
At this time, Rock cut in, "By the way, some time ago, Beate and those guys complained to the school saying that you were always off from school, and you were not carrying your responsibility as a teacher, so they wanted you to be fired. But you know what? As soon as they arrived at the headmaster’s office, that issue of Element arrived as well, hahaha...! When Beate heard that you had won Holm Crown prize, he dropped his favorite Colette porcelain cup on the ground. Lucien, I wish someday your research could just overthrow their belief..."
Rock was obviously very excited. When Lucien came back today, several teachers who did not like him all walked away when they were still far from Lucien.
"Lucien, who’s this letter for? This’s a thick one..." Jerome saw the envelop in Lucien’s hand.
Lucien waved his left hand, "To a friend of mine."
Earlier he spent more than an hour writing this letter to Natasha. In this letter, he shared what he had seen and learned with her, and still some of his thoughts about music. Lucien also used secret codes and told Natasha that he had won his own Holm Crown ring, and part of the letter was also for Joel’s family, especially his friend, John.
"To your sweetheart? I bet she must be very gentle and beautiful, or you wouldn’t just ignore all the beauties here." Vilnia joked, "You’re a level four arcanist and a first circle sorcerer now, and you can bring her here to live with you in Allyn."
Lucien admitted that Natasha was very beautiful, but talking about being gentle... Lucien just put on an awkward smile.
At this time, Annick, Sprint and the other apprentices arrived. They looked at Lucien very respectfully, "Mr. Evans, are you leaving soon?"
They were more than proud to be Mr. Evans’ students!
Lucien smiled and nodded, "Yes, but I’m still in Allyn. If you guys and girls still want to study after me, you’re welcome to my new place on Saturday."
Lucien had lots of homework from Mr. Raventi and now he felt quite eager to share this lovely feeling with his students.
"Really?" Annick was very surprised, and the other apprentices all grinned.
Under Mr. Evans’ help, Chely was now catching up with her peers in the junior class, and even those smart apprentices such as Annick and Grant. Thus, many teachers started using Lucien’s way of teaching and assigning students with lots of homework, which was driving many apprentices nuts.
Lucien nodded in a relaxed way and then he showed his perfect smile, "My test papers are all ready."
As if a lightning just struck them, all the apprentices’ smiles froze.
...
On monday morning, Lucien’s coach arrived at Sariva. According to the instruction, Lucien was going to meet his research group members here in Dragon Root Inn.
Wearing black top hat and a double-breasted suit, Lucien looked rather cultivated and elegant. On his chest, there was a four-star arcana badge and a two-circle magic badge.